The Trump White House is weighing punishments for NATO allies that do not give their full support to the president’s war in Iran.
President Donald Trump has been furious with several key U.S. allies for not pledging to give their full military might to help him reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
The Strait has emerged as a key point of leverage for Tehran, so much so that Trump threatened to kill off the entire Iranian population if it did not open back up, a threat which he later walked back.
One punishment for U.S. allies would involve moving U.S. troops out of NATO countries, the Wall Street Journal reported. The plan could also include closing a U.S. base in one member country, potentially Spain or Germany.
More than 80,000 U.S. troops are stationed across Europe. European bases have long been strategic for U.S. military operations globally, particularly in Eastern Europe as a deterrent against Russia.
The president has been particularly frustrated with France, as it has blocked Israeli planes from flying weapons through its airspace. The French government has still allowed the U.S. to use its base in Southern France, after it was assured that it would not be used to fly planes striking Iran.
Italy also temporarily blocked the U.S. from using an air base in Sicily to fight its war, which angered the White House.
Germany, home to one of the U.S.’s largest bases in Europe, has also been in the crosshairs of the Trump administration after its government officials criticized Trump’s war.
Senior European officials have countered Trump’s complaining, saying they were not even consulted on the war until it had already been launched. They have also not been too happy with Trump over his repeated threats to annex Greenland, a territory of Denmark, a NATO ally.
The Journal reported that some countries, such as Greece, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania, could benefit from Trump’s potential punishments, as Eastern European countries had signaled they would support a coalition to monitor the Strait of Hormuz.
The Wall Street Journal said the White House declined to comment on its reporting. The White House did not directly respond to the Daily Beast’s inquiry, instead sending a clip of Secretary of State Marco Rubio complaining about NATO on Fox News.
The Journal’s report comes as NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte traveled to Washington, D.C. on Wednesday to meet with Trump at the White House. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump plans to have a “frank and candid conversation” with Rutte.
Trump has for years complained about NATO and has threatened to pull the U.S. out of the strategic alliance several times.
Earlier this week, Trump said he was “very disappointed” in NATO for not fully supporting him in his war effort.
Trump previously said he hoped several U.S. allies were being negatively impacted by his war enough so that they would send their own military might to the effort.
“Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint, will send Ships to the area so that the Hormuz Strait will no longer be a threat by a Nation that has been totally decapitated,” he posted on Mar. 14.
When that didn’t happen, he raged against the alliance on his Truth Social platform, ranting that its members “HAVE DONE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO HELP” his war, all while saying the “U.S.A. NEEDS NOTHING FROM NATO.”
